Now we know how good Omega 3 fats are for our health, what are good Omega 3 sources?

It is now firmly established that increasing our intake of Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids is a very good for our health. And so, as people become aware of this, they start to search for good Omega 3 sources. Let’s examine all dietary sources of Omega 3 fatty acids so that you can decide how to add some more healthy polyunsaturated fats into your diet.

Firstly we need to understand that Omega 3 fats are not just one fat. There are in fact a number of different Omega 3 polyunsaturated fats and they have different sources. Probably the most important of these is DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid). DHA is found through our bodies but in particular is a major component of the fats that make up our brain. Increasing our intake of DHA is one of the most important goals when we are seeking to increase our intake of healthy polyunsaturated fats.

Secondly is the Omega 3 fat EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid). This is also very important to our health but less so than DHA.

And thirdly comes an Omega 3 fat called ALA (Alpha-linolenic acid). This is less important to our health and the other 2 Omega 3 fats for one particular reason. ALA is not synthesised directly into our body but is of benefit to our body because it can be converted into DHA. This is of course useful as it increases our supply of DHA however our body is only able convert ALA in limited amounts. Estimates range from 5 percent to 25 percent of ALA that is eaten can be converted into DHA.

Obviously, if only a small percentage of the ALA that we ingest ultimately becomes available to our body it is not as useful as the other 2.

And there are more Omega 3 fats. For example there is one called DPA, however there is only limited research done of the health benefits of DPA to date.

Therefore, for the average person, the search for good dietary sources of Omega3 fats comes down to the search for sources of DHA and EPA.

However there are special considerations for vegetarians and we shall consider those shortly.

So what are good DHA sources and EPA sources? Basically this comes down to fish. Fish eat various forms of microscopic algae, amongst other things, and micro algae has the 2 most important Omega 3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA, and so these are present in the oil of the fish that has eaten it. It is really only fish that are able to produce substantial sources of these 2 essential fatty acids in any quantity.

That is why the initial studies done some decades ago that started to establish the health giving properties of Omega 3 fats were done on Eskimos. Eskimos eat a large amount of fish and it was found that they were particularly healthy.

They had very low rates of many of the lifestyle diseases that afflict so many people in the US such as heart disease and others and this was linked to their intake of Omega 3 fatty acids from their diet high in fish.

And so an obvious source of the Omega 3 fatty acids is to eat more fish. However this isn’t quite so easy for people who don’t eat fish, like some vegetarians. Vegetarians who don’t eat fish cannot take Omega 3 supplements made from fish either.

Let’s examine the issue as it relates to vegetarians. Some vegetarians choose to eat fish and some choose not to eat fish. Obviously those who choose to eat fish would also be happy to take daily fish oil supplements and therefore they overcome the problem of finding good clean Omega3 sources in the same way as the rest of us.

However for those vegetarians who cannot eat fish there is a particular problem. Obviously they cannot take regular fish oil supplements as the rest of us can. What can they do?

It is possible to get Omega 3 supplements using the same Omega3 sources as fish use. Fish eat micro algae and convert this into DHA and EPA. It is now possible to get Omega 3 supplements that are made from micro algae that a good EPA and DHA sources.

And of course none of us are restricted to merely taking fish oil supplements. There is more that we can do to increase our intake of Omega3 fats. There are good plant based dietary sources of Omega3 fats even though they are ALA. It is better to eat vegetables and other food sources of Omega 3 fats than not to do so even know increasing our intake of ALA is not as effective as taking fish oil.

Here are some good plant sources of Omega 3 fats. Canola oil. Flax seed oil. Soy beans and soy bean oil. Olive oil. Walnuts and pumpkin seeds. And flax seed oil supplements. Read the rest of this entry

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More Omega3 fatty acids is good for you right? So More Omega 6 fatty acids must be good for you too, right? Wrong.

Healthy Omega fatty acids are not just restricted to DHA and EPA. There are in fact a number of Omega fats. One of these Omega  fats is an Omega 6 fatty acid, or LA. You would assume that if Omega 3 fatty acids are good for your health then Omega 6 fatty acids should also be good for your health, and that foods high in Omega 6 should be eaten in larger quantities.

Let’s examine the difference between Omega three fatty acids and Omega six fatty acids and see whether we should also increase our intake of foods high in Omega 6.

Omega 6 fats are what is known as essential fatty acids. Essential fatty acids are acids which the body needs and which cannot produce itself and therefore must come from the food that we eat. This includes both the Omega 3 fats as well as the Omega 6 fats.

All the Omega 3  and Omega 6 fatty acids are important to our health however our intake of our Omega6 fats has increased dramatically in the last 100 years. The US Department of agriculture has estimated that our intake of Omega 6 fatty acids has more than doubled in the last 100 years. Other estimates are even higher than this. Unfortunately our intake of Omega three fats has reduced dramatically during the same period.

The American Heart Association estimates that during this same period rates of heart disease in our population have increased dramatically. It draws a link between the decrease in intake of Omega 3 fatty acids and an increase in the intake of Omega 6 fatty acids and this increase in heart disease rates.

Why would this be so? During the same period the Omega 3 Omega 6 ratio has changed dramatically in some of our most important food sources. Foods that traditionally had reasonable levels of beneficial Omega 3 fats have now become foods high in Omega 6. An example is meat.

In the past cows ate a diet of grass. This is a diet rich in Omega three fats found in the grass. Therefore the food products that are produced from cows, namely meat and dairy products, were high in Omega 3 fats. However cows now are mainly fed in feedlots and are fed a diet high in grains like corn and soy which produce a much higher level of Omega 6 in the meat and dairy products that result.

The same applies to chickens. Traditionally chickens ate grass and insects that ate grass and both of these produced chicken and eggs that were high in Omega 3. Now chickens are fed grains high in Omega 6 and the resultant meat and eggs are also higher in Omega six fatty acids and lower in Omega three fats.

Scientists also discovered around the middle of last century that some foods high in Omega 3, when processed, went rancid due to a process of oxidation of the Omega 3 fats. Rather than work out a way to stop the process of oxidation they simply removed the Omega threes from the foods not understanding at that time the importance of those healthy fats. So many of our foods declined in their normal Omega 3 content.

As you can see the Omega3 Omega6 ratio changed dramatically in the last 100 years so that we are now eating a diet much higher in Omega6 fatty acids. Accordingly the average American adult is not deficient in Omega six and should not be seeking to eat more foods high in Omega 6. In fact most American adults eat from 10 to 20 times more Omega 6 fatty acids than Omega threes.

The Omega 3 Omega 6 ratio has changed to the point where there is now recommendations that adults should reduce their intake of foods high in Omega 6 and increase their intake of foods high in Omega 3.

So what do you do? Where possible substitute corn and soy fed beef for grass fed beef. Often this is not possible. In this case it is worth reducing the intake of meat. The same applies to chicken and eggs. Where possible source organic or free range chickens and eggs that have been fed a diet that is high in more natural leafy foods such as grass and salad greens and a diet lower in grains. Read the rest of this entry

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The benefits of flax seed oil have been trumpeted lately. But what are the benefits of flaxseed oil?

There are a number of different Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The main one of benefit to us is called DHA, or what is technically called Docosahexaenoic acid. DHA is the dominant Omega 3 fatty acid found in our brains.

Also important, though less important than DHA, is another Omega 3 fat called EPA, or Eicosapentaenoic acid. Both EPA and DHA are found in fish and some other marine sources, and it’s the DHA in particular, but also the EPA, that is the main component of fish oil capsules, and the reason why they are so good for us.

But these 2 are not the only Omega 3 fats. There’s also some plant based Omega 3 fats. ALA, or Alpha-linolenic acid, is an Omega fat that is found in plants and particularly in flaxseeds. So the benefits of flax seed oil are often promoted along with the benefits of fish oil.

Lets examine the health benefits of flaxseed oil and see if you ought to be taking flaxseed oil supplements. Note that it’s not only in flaxseeds that ALA is found, there are other plant sources of ALA, such as walnuts, but flax seeds are a good source and the oil, containing ALA, can be extracted from the seeds to make flaxseed oil supplements.

Flax seed oil benefits primarily revolve around the ability of the body to use the ALA from the oil and convert it into DHA and EPA. The body does not  use the ALA directly, but it can turn it into those other 2 essential fatty acids.

The difference between DHA, EPA and ALA lies in their carbon bonds. For various highly chemical reasons the body can make use of DHA and EPA directly, but cannot make use of ALA. However the body is able to convert ALA into DHA and EPA.

ALA itself has not been shown to have the health benefits of the other 2 Omega fats.

Therefore the medical benefits of flaxseed oil lie in the ability of the body to convert the ALA. Unfortunately the body is not very efficient in doing this, and only a small proportion of the ALA is actually converted. Of course if you took a lot of flaxseed oil supplements your body may be able to convert enough to satisfy the need for an adequate amount of DHA and EPA.

But why not get your DHA and EPA directly, from fish oil supplements, rather than indirectly, from flaxseed oil capsules? It’s more efficient to do it that way. If you take fish oil supplements you’ll get your DHA and EPA direct, and at better value.

However there are people who see an advantage of using flax seed oil capsules. For example vegetarians who would not eat fish are unable to take fish oil supplements. So should they be taking flax seed oil capsules?

Yes, for vegetarians it’s much better to get the benefits of flax seed oil supplements than to get no Omega 3 fats at all. They won’t be eating any fish so may well have an even higher need for good healthy polyunsaturated fats than the general population.

However there are also vegetarian Omega 3 supplements available from marine sources that don’t have any fish oil. Actually the Omega 3 fats found in fish oil are there from what the fish eats. Fish eat, amongst other things, microalgea and it’s from these that the Omega 3 fats are sourced. Read the rest of this entry

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You see a lot of “concentrated fish oil” advertised in Omega 3 supplements, but do you know what it is?

If you’ve looked around for good quality fish oil supplements you’ll come across the term “concentrated fish oil” pretty quickly. Lets have a look at exactly what “concentrated fish oil”, or what can also be known as “super concentrated fish oil” or even “highly concentrated fish oil”, really is.

If you caught a fish and squeezed it really hard you’d got oil out of it. A different amount depending on how oily the fish was, but you’d get ordinary fish oil.

This oil contains good Omega 3 polyunsaturated fats, particularly DHA, the most important of the Omega 3 fats, and EPA, also important.

But it won’t have a lot of those 2 fatty acids. Some, but not stacks.

And it would have anything else in it that was in the oil in the fish. This includes toxins that would be in the fish itself.

This can sometimes be referred to as standard food grade fish oil. It is in a triglyceride form, because that is how it is in the fish.

But if you made your Omega 3 supplements from that you wouldn’t get a lot of DHA or EPA in each capsule. Well not unless the capsules were really big.

What you need to do is to concentrate the fish oil so that the percentages of the important Omega 3 fats are dramatically increased. And along the way, depending on how you concentrate it, you also achieve some other desirable results, in particular by removing the toxins.

A molecular distillation process is  used to concentrate the oils and remove the toxins. Molecular distillation is where the oil is spun very fast and components of the oil are separated out according to their molecular weight.

So toxins are removed by this process.

Now bear with me here, it gets a little complicated. When you concentrate your oil the fish oil concentrate that results is converted from the triglyceride form found in the natural fish oil into and ethyl ester form. This is ok, and doesn’t affect the efficacy of the resulting fish oil concentrate. It still contains higher levels of the important Omega 3 fats and is still “bioavailable”, or in other words can be absorbed into the body from the stomach, an essential step.

If a nutrient cannot be absorbed into the body when eaten it is useless no matter how much you eat.

However some manufacturers reconvert the ethyl ester form back into a triglyceride form, mainly for marketing purposes. They believe that they can then advertise the oil as “natural” because it was originally a triglyceride and still is. However the process used to reconvert it back means that when it is reconverted it is in a different molecular makeup than it was originally, because the structure of the molecules is altered. It is advertised as natural but isn’t because it isn’t in the same molecular form as the original triglyceride form.

As a result it is much less “bioavailable”. There is no need to reconvert it back, it is fine in the ethyl ester form, it’s a marketing tactic.

There is no doubt that concentrated fish oil has more Omega 3 fats in it as a percentage. But there are still very worthwhile amounts of Omega fats in unconcentrated fish oil. Read the rest of this entry

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